LEGO Temple of Doom
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I waited with anticipation for my kids to get home as I had sworn
that I would not play LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
until they arrived home from school. The anticipation was excruciating,
all I had to tie me over was looking at the exclusive LEGO Indy
video game shirt that I received from the local Gamestop video game
store as part of the pre-order. It depicts the LEGO Temple of
Doom gang (Indy, Willie and Short Round) hurtling through the
mine shafts in a mine car and has a secret code to unlock Mola Ram
on the front. I did get to watch the trailer for LEGO Batman
and the LEGO Indy trailer (I was still keeping to my promise,
for I was watching the extras and not playing the game).
Finally it was time I told the kids to forgo their homework and
start playing and with that we fired up the Xbox 360 and went adventuring.
From the dazzling almost 3D quality of the graphics we were all
transported into the pixelated South American jungle, we laughed
at the cartoony antics of Satipo and Indy as they edged their way
into the Temple. The game is inventive and never dull as you revisit
familiar territory but now seen through an entirely whimsical point
of view. My boys were jumping up and down screaming "duck"
and "run" to each other as they made their way through
traps and dangerous predicaments. Climaxing in the run from from
the boulder and meeting Belloq, who does a great robot dance when
Indy presents the golden head of C-3P0 instead of the idol to him,
followed by a rubber duck.
There are many more cameos by LEGO Star Wars characters
throughout Indy's adventures (look for Hoth Luke upside down in
the Wampa's cave near the Raven bar) and all are a delight as we
are presented with the closest encounter Indy will ever have with
aliens from another galaxy (LEGO Indy that is). What is
remarkable about the genius behind the LEGO Indy game is how all
the gun play and violence have been transformed into hilarious moments.
We skipped around as the kids wanted to play in the Temple of Doom
and had a ball, I was surprised to see how the sacrifice scene is
totally redone and no one gets hurt (though clothes are burned off
much to the chagrin of the victim - but it beats the old "heartburn").
I want to do the Ark opening and see how it is done. The mine chase
is great and and Mola Ram has never looked better, the Club Obi
Wan is a thrill as you take control of a poisoned Indy and escape
Lao's baddies. The kids loved Short Round (who doesn't) and wanted
to go back and do the whole game in FREEPLAY mode using him and
Mola Ram -- what a team-up, that is!
Oddly, Barnett College and not Marshall College is Indy's base
of operations for this game, but that is the only drawback in this
truly amazing video game. Fedoras off to the team of engineers and
comedy writers who brought this latest edition of the LEGO series
to market. This has to be THE best Indiana Jones game ever to be
released just for the sheer fun of watching it all play out before
your eyes. We at the Hallock home will be playing and replaying
this game for a long, long time. The next question we all have is
when is the LEGO Crystal Skull coming out!
Posted by Mitchell Hallock
